Starz, fresh off its separation from former parent company Lionsgate, reported results for the first three months of the year.
For the quarter, which was the company’s Q4 of fiscal 2025, Starz reported total revenue of $330.6 million, down 6.2%, and an operating loss of $136.3 million compared with an operating loss of $30.8 million.
The results include a restructuring charge of $177.4 million, including $167.7 million for “content and other impairments” that the company said was “related to a strategic reassessment of the company’s content portfolio.” The initiative is “part of Starz’s broader effort to align its operations and cost structure as a newly independent, standalone public company.”
The quarterly results from Starz came after it officially separated from Lionsgate on May 7, when the Starz stock began trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “STRZ.”
Starz said that given the recent separation from Lionsgate it will not report earnings per share for its fiscal Q4 of 2025. The company will initiate EPS reporting with the quarter ending June 30, 2025. In addition, Starz said, it has adopted a change in its fiscal year end from March 31 to Dec. 31.
“For the quarter, we are very pleased to report the company’s strong operating and financial results, and excellent subscriber growth. We delivered significant U.S. OTT subscriber gains, growing the total subscriber base in the U.S. by almost 2%,” Jeffrey Hirsch, president and CEO of Starz, said in announcing the quarterly results. “Despite having a strike-impacted slate this year, we delivered a strong fourth quarter and generated over $200 million of Adjusted OIBDA [operating income before depreciation and amortization] for fiscal year 2025.”
At the time of separation from Lionsgate, Starz had net debt of $559.1 million. That comprised debt of $300 million under its new Term Loan A facility and $325.1 million in senior unsecured notes that remained with the company, offset by $66 million in cash. On a trailing 12-month basis, the company’s total debt-to-equity ratio was 3.1x.
The Starz Networks segment, which includes operations in the U.S. and Canada, ended the quarter with 12.3 million U.S. streaming subscribers, representing sequential growth of 530,000.
Total U.S. subscribers (including linear) reached 18.0 million, an increase of 320,000 from the prior quarter, primarily driven by the late-quarter premiere of original series “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” Season 4 (pictured above). According to the company, customer acquisition for the show’s premiere week was 50% and 30% higher than Seasons 2 and 3, respectively.
Including Canada, Starz’s total North American subscribers were 19.6 million, reflecting a sequential decline of 330,000. The decline was largely due to a “carriage dispute in Canada that resulted in the removal of the Starz-branded linear channel from a distributor’s programming packages,” the company said.
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